Washington (13-14, 4-12 Big Ten) vs. No.11 Wisconsin (21-6, 11-5 Big Ten)

Date/Time – Tuesday, February 25, 8 p.m.

Arena – Kohl Center (17,071)

Television – Peacock (Noah Eagle and Austin Rivers)

Radio – Badgers Radio Network (Matt Lepay and Brian Butch), Sirius 83, stream online on iHeartRadio.

Series – Washington leads 3-1 (Series tied 1-1 in Madison)

Last Meeting – Washington won, 81-67, on December 17, 1965, in Milwaukee

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Twitter: @Badger_Blitz

Betting line: Wisconsin - 16.5

Player to Watch: Tonje is tied for the Big Ten scoring lead. He is trying to become the first Badgers to win the conference scoring title since Cory Blackwell averaged 18.9 ppg in the 1983-84 season.

Player to watch: Mason has led the Huskies in scoring in the last three games, averaging 19.7 points per game. Three of 11 career 20+ point performances have come in the last six outings (Nebraska, Penn State, and Rutgers).

This will be the first conference meeting between the programs.

Washington has won the last three meetings in the series, the last coming in the 1965 Milwaukee Classic.

Washington has made two visits to Madison, with the Badgers claiming a 39-9 win in 1931 and Huskies earning a 62-48 win in 1958.

The Badgers have scored at least 80 points in 15 games this season, matching the most in school history (1963-64 and 1970-71).

Three different Badgers have scored 25+ pts in a game this season and the Badgers have 6 30-point efforts already: Tonje 6x (41-Ariz, 33-Pitt, 32-Pur, 31-Ill, 27-Neb, 27-NW) Blackwell 3x (32-Iowa, 30-UTRGV, 28-USC) Klesmit 1x (26-Montana St). The last time Wisconsin had three different players tally 25+ points in a game in the same season was Ethan Happ, Nigel Hayes, and Bronson Koenig in the 2016-17 season.

Wisconsin is 13-2 at home this season, winning by an average of 15.8 ppg.

During conference play, the Badgers rank fourth in the Big Ten in scoring defense (71.5 ppg) and second in field goal percentage defense. (42.1 percent).

UW ranks second in the Big Ten (15th nationally) averaging 16.8 made free throws per game. That mark would be the team's highest since the 2013-14 (16.9) and before that the 1971-72 season (17.8).

The Badgers are Washington’s first ranked opponent since playing at then-No. 15 Oregon on Jan. 21.

Washington has lost its last two games despite shooting over 50 percent from the floor, the only two such losses of the season.

The Huskies have made at least seven threes in every game in February. Washington is shooting 43.5 percent in February after entering the month with a 32.1 percent shooting percentage from behind the arc.

Washington owns a +15 scoring margin in the second half, compared to a -53 margin in the first half. Over the last 10 games, Washington has been outscored by 71 points in the second half.

Washington has scored 44.8 percent of its points in the paint, including six games with at least 40 points.

Not only did Wisconsin fans pump the brakes on their hopes of this season ending with Big Ten championships and a deep Final Four run on Saturday, but the car came to a screeching halt. No team that is thought of as a Final Four team blows a 15-point lead with 7:57 to go and a nine-point lead with 3:16 to go at home to an unranked opponent.

Wisconsin’s 77-73 overtime loss to Oregon cleared the picture. While the Badgers can be classified as a very good team, the few steps they are away from “elite” status are flaws that can easily derail what has been a fun, unexpected season.

UW’s defense has drastically improved from the three-game losing streak of early December, but the Badgers are still vulnerable to teams with talented forwards and centers. It happened with Michigan’s two 7-footers in December, UCLA’s Aday Mara catching fire in January, and Oregon’s Nate Bittle in the second half and overtime on Saturday. UW has its own two 7-footers but seems outmaneuvered when facing a similar height matchup.

The Badgers have overcome their flaws by scoring at a high clip. Look at the UW’s win at Purdue just over a week ago. Trey Kaufman-Renn scored a career-high 30 points, but the Badgers won by 10 because they shot 72.1 percent and 1.87 points per possession in the second half.

Even with the inability to stop Bittle and giving up some untimely rebounds down the stretch, UW held Oregon to 1.027 points per possession. The Badgers have won the majority of their games when hitting that number. The problem was UW looked like a rec team and not one fighting for a championship.

No free throws were attempted in the second half or overtime and nine assists on 30 baskets showed that Wisconsin lacked aggression, and the ball wasn’t moving. The biggest gaffe was the season-high 17 turnovers, five of which came on its final six possessions. UW scored only two points over that period as it gave the game away because the Badgers lost their poise and played tentatively; the opposite of the attack-mode style the staff has been preaching since the beginning of the season.

“That last five minutes, I don’t know if I’ve seen anything like that in 30-some years of coaching,” head coach Greg Gard said. “If there were seven things we had to do wrong for that to happen, we did eight of them.”

The next four games will be a litmus test of how well UW can flush what happened, maintain its aggressive persona, and avoid falling into panic mode like it did down the stretch against the Ducks. It will be important for Tonje to be efficient offensively, as 2-for-10 from three won’t lead to success. Blackwell must step up into a bigger leadership role as the point guard despite not being a true point guard, which has come into play in past games when turnovers come in bunches. UW also must get more from Crowl and Winter with scoring in the lane consistently, which was absent in the second half when Bittle returned to the floor.

Washington hasn’t had much success in year one in the Big Ten, but the last-place Huskies have some talented individuals who can put a scare into Wisconsin.

Osobor is a big, strong forward who will challenge Wisconsin’s frontcourt because he can finish shots with both hands. The team leader in points, steals (third in the Big Ten), and rebounds (fifth in the Big Ten), Osobor scores 82.9 percent of his non-free-throw points in the paint, so the Badgers know where he’ll be going.

The Huskies are also starting to see their guards shoot the ball from the perimeter. Mason has 13 threes in the last three games, Harris is shooting 64.3 percent from three in the last seven games, and Davis has made at least three threes in the last four games. Diallo – a McDonald’s All-American last year - has scored 10+ points 18 times, including 14 of the last 19 games.

That being said, Washington ranks 112th in adjusted offensive efficiency and 97th in adjusted defensive efficiency and is playing on the road against a team that got embarrassed in its home venue three days ago. That's not a great recipe to pull the upset.

UW should get back on track tonight before its big road matchup at Michigan State. If not, the car should be traded in for a 2015 model.

Worgull’s Prediction: Wisconsin by 18

Record: 21-6 (20-7 ATS)

Points off Prediction: 227 (8.4 per game)

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